


Tipping the Scales

by experimentaldragonfire



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: College AU, F/F, Mermaid Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Slow Burn, mermaid au, unintentional conspiracy theorist peridot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-05-13 03:12:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14740955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/experimentaldragonfire/pseuds/experimentaldragonfire
Summary: Peridot is your average socially reclusive, overachiever college student—until she gets saved from drowning the summer before her junior year by a mysterious sea creature. Between weird dreams about mermaids and her annoying new blue-haired suitemate, will Peridot ever figure out exactly what—or who—it was that rescued her?[College!AU and Mermaid!AU]





	1. Lucky Dip

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't attempted a multi-chapter fic in years, but started this when faced with a week of no wifi while on vacation last summer. I've decided to edit and post what I've got in the hopes of gaining the motivation to continue--I do have the entire story outlined, but have only really written the first six or so chapters. I'm planning on trying to get one of those up once a week or so, and write more in the meantime, but I am currently in the middle of final exams, so bear with me! Anyway, hope you enjoy this self-indulgent combo of a mermaid and college AU! (Not a mermaid college AU though. If you want to see that, you're going to have to write it yourself)

Peridot hated weekends.

  
Peridot _especially_ hated sunny weekends.

  
Weekends were the time when her student research team took time off to see the local sights around the city where their lab was located—and in sunny weather, they would usually end up at the nearby beach for a day of “fun in the sun” (or whatever the faculty in charge of recreation activities had advertised it as). In Peridot’s opinion, the whole thing was a massive waste of time. They were here on the coast of Italy to perform tests on and aid in the development of a new concept for prosthetic limbs, and taking two perfectly good work days off seemed pointless to her. She would be less irritated if her professor would allow her to stay behind in the lab; or, barring that, to take some research notes with her. But any and all previous requests had been met with a firm objection and her professor’s insistence that she “go have fun.”

  
While some of the surrounding destinations had been at least marginally interesting (the Romans had had impressively sophisticated plumbing systems, and Peridot begrudgingly admitted that the view from the top of the hill they had climbed one weekend _was_ worth the long, zigzagging trek up), beach weekends had, as far as she could tell, no redeeming qualities. The fine sand was scorching hot underfoot, and its tendency to bury itself deep within any crevice barred her from bringing any electronic devices, lest they meet an untimely and undignified end. The bright sun would turn her pale skin a blisteringly painful shade of red if she didn’t slather herself with lotion, and her general aversion to water made the entire trip more like a nightmare than a dream holiday. Overall, when beach weekends came around, Peridot was miserable.

  
However, despite all her objections, she was here, curled up under an umbrella on a towel and scowling at anybody who crossed within three feet of her self-designated space. With a pair of non-prescription sunglasses perched on her thin nose in front of her normal, bottle-thick circle lenses, Peridot was squinting at the tiny text of the travel edition of _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_. Though most of her classmates would insist that she had no idea how to relax, she did have interests outside of her dedication to work. Classic sci-fi, for instance, was something she had loved since before she was old enough to read it for herself—her dad had often read to her from a collection of Ray Bradbury’s works before bedtime, and she had maintained an appreciation for the genre ever since.

  
She had hoped to finish re-reading the Douglas Adams novel before lunchtime, and to be able to begin the next in the series after the students had gathered for a meal. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the world had other plans.

  
Peridot squawked as she felt herself lifted off her towel and flung over the shoulder of someone with a pair of strong, toned arms. She flailed briefly, and managed to knock both pairs of her glasses off in her attempt to free herself from her attacker. Once she had turned around enough to see the face of her assailant (which involved a near-Herculean effort), she wondered why she had been surprised.

  
_Jasper._ The basketball player from Peridot’s university was here for pre-season with her team, which happened to be training in a facility owned by the same school as the lab where Peridot was researching. Seeing as the same university ran both programs, they often went on joint excursions at the weekend. Jasper had been the bane of Peridot’s existence since they were randomly assigned as roommates freshman year, and Peridot had been trying valiantly to avoid the sight of her platinum-blonde ponytail during this entire trip.

  
“Hey, what are you doing?! Put me down!” she exclaimed, wriggling about in Jasper’s firm grasp. Jasper merely rolled her eyes (or at least, Peridot assumed she did) and readjusted her grip.

  
“You always spend all day hiding under that _stupid_ umbrella, avoiding human company. You can’t spend your life as a repressed shut-in, Peri. It’s not good for you.”

  
“I’m not a _shut-in_ , Jasper! I have a perfectly acceptable amount of friends. And I spend time outside!”

  
“You know that Professor Quartz’s son doesn’t count, right? I’m talking about people your _own age_. And yeah, you go outside…when you have to to walk between buildings to get to class. You need a helping hand.”

  
“There’s nothing wrong with being friends with somebody younger than you, who might just happen to be the son of one of your lecturers. Anyway, Steven’s not my only friend! There are at least twenty people who I play video games with regularly.”

  
“Peri, have you ever actually met any of them in person?”

  
“That’s not the _point!_ ”

  
“Look, all I’m saying is that you need to start interacting with the people who are here in front of you. You’re at the beach! Why not get started by going for a swim?!”

  
While they had been bickering, Jasper had carried Peridot over to the end of the wooden dock that jutted out from the most crowded point of the beach. Their classmates were grouped in a loose formation, either sitting on the end of the wood or floating in the sea just below. Peridot grudgingly admitted that they did seem to be having a better time than she had been having, and wondered if she would be able to placate Jasper by striking up a short conversation with one of them. 

However, she never got the chance. Before she could escape, Jasper hurled Peridot into the air, sending her flying over the wet heads of the students clustered below and crashing down into the water a little farther out.

  
From Peridot’s point of view, it was as if somebody had suddenly pressed the mute button on life. Instead of the noisy chatter on the beach and the frequent calls of sea birds, all sound was muffled. It took her a second to realize that she had just been thrown into the sea, and by that point, she had been sinking in stunned silence for long enough that she was fairly far down.

  
Her first instinct was to shout, which only accomplished the task of greatly depleting the amount of air she had stored in her lungs. Next, she kicked her legs and attempted, as much as possible, to propel herself upwards towards where she thought she could make out the faint glimmerings of the sun. However, the sturdy material of her cargo shorts and t-shirt held water and weighed her down. Peridot looked up desperately, vainly hoping that somebody would be there to rescue her. She was not a strong swimmer at all, and was starting to face the unfortunate truth that she might not make it back to shore. The outgoing tide had swept her into deeper water, and her lungs were burning from the lack of air. Peridot could not tell whether the steady darkening of her vision was due to oxygen deprivation, increasing water depth, or both combined.

  
She knew she had to breathe, that her lungs would not let her hold her breath for much longer at all. Distantly, she felt her mouth open automatically, to gasp in air that was not there. Her vision faded out as cold seawater entered her throat and her limbs stopped working altogether, though just before the darkness completely engulfed her, she could have sworn she saw a flash of deep, brilliant blue.


	2. Peridot Owes Her Life to a Fish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two months after the Ocean Incident, and Peri's headed back to school...but what's up with the new, mysterious blue-haired girl she's sharing a living space with?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I'm so happy to see so many people enjoying this fic so far! Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my self-indulgent mermaid story :)
> 
> I decided to upload this chapter a bit earlier than I was planning, mostly because of all of the nice comments and discussions I've been having over the past few days! And also because my Wednesday will definitely be filled with last-minute studying for my last exam. So here you go--the part where the story really begins.

Two months later, Peridot was dragging the last of her tote boxes through the door to her room in the four-person suite on the third floor of Silo Hall. Her tiny single may not have had much floor space, but it gave her a private area where she was free to conduct her investigations into… _whatever_ had happened to her on that day at the beach.

As she surveyed the cluster of rectangular containers spread out on her floor and tried to decide where to store everything, Peridot was surprised to find herself tackled from behind by somebody much stronger than they looked.

“Hey, P-dot! Heard we nearly lost you this summer—what happened? Was it a shark? Or a giant whale?”

The over-familiar nickname cued Peridot into the identity of her inquisitive intruder, who happened to be one of her suitemates this year.

“Amethyst. Of course. Who else would immediately ask me about the relatively traumatic experience I had this summer without so much as a proper ‘hello’ first?”

“Serves me right to have been worried about you. But seriously, what was all that about?”

Peridot sighed. She had been over the incident hundreds of times in her head already, trying to make the events make sense. So far, she had been unsuccessful.

“Well, after Jasper threw me into the sea, I got pulled under by the tide. And I think I must have passed out? But just before that, I could have sworn I felt something grab me by the ankle and start dragging me back to the surface. I think I also saw something really, really blue? And after that…not much. I remember feeling the sand, and bright sunshine…and then I woke up properly in a hospital. They sent me home after that, too, can you believe it? All those weeks of research I was going to do, lost!”

Amethyst looked at her quizzically. “So what, you were saved from drowning by the Little Mermaid? Should I be on the lookout for some mute redhead trying to get in your pants?”

“Amethyst! Why do you have to be so….never mind. And of course it wasn’t a mermaid! They’re fictional. My best guess so far is some kind of super-intelligent octopus species. I’ve actually been doing some investigating; can you imagine how important it would be to the scientific community to have proof of a creature with intelligence rivaling that of a human’s?”

Peridot’s lilac-haired suitemate peered into the dim light of the disorganized room she had intruded into, noticing for the first time that a good portion of the clear boxes contained books on oceanography and marine animals. Her eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re, uh…really into this, aren’t you?”

“It’s been bothering me since I woke up in the hospital. Why would something that lives in the ocean save me? How would rescuing a human serve its own interests, and how did it know I needed help in the first place? I want to find that out.”

Amethyst took in her friend’s determined look, and decided that it wasn’t worth arguing the unlikeliness of a life-saving octopus. Instead, she excused herself to finish up her own unpacking, and left Peridot to hers.

 

* * *

 

 Slightly later on, as Peridot walked back to her room from putting away her instant coffee in the kitchenette, the door to the other single room in the suite swung open. Curious as to who the occupant of the final room was, Peridot glanced over just in time to meet the eyes of--

 

_Blue._

_Blue as the depths of the ocean, of the water that was the only thing Peridot could think of, remembering the sensation of being engulfed, and of sinking, sinking…_

_She tried to scream, but found her mouth covered by a cold, damp hand. With urgency, Peridot shoved the hand away in order to cough up the saltwater that had taken up residence in her throat and lungs. After displacing what seemed like half the ocean onto the rough sand, she looked up to find the source of the intense blue color she had woken up to, only to see, through blurry, lens-less vision, the figure of….a girl?_

_Blue eyes, blue hair. Blue…legs? No. Not legs; a tail. A mermaid?_

_Peridot would deny it outright if she wasn’t seeing it right before her eyes._

_The mermaid opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a nearby siren wail.  
By the far edge of the sand, Peridot could make out flashing lights, and heard distant shouts. She turned back to her companion, who she suspected was also her rescuer, but the mermaid was nowhere to be found. Peridot thought she saw the flick of a deep blue tail among the waves crashing towards the shore, but couldn’t gather the energy to get up and follow. _

_In fact, she didn’t really have the energy to do…anything. As she became aware of people in bright vests rushing down the sandy slope to surround her on the beach, she felt her consciousness slipping away again, and the world tilted backwards as her eyes closed and her head fell back down to the sand._

 

“What are you staring at?”

Peridot jumped, brought abruptly back to reality. “Wha…” she managed to say, in a stunning display of eloquence. She was still frozen from her memory (was it a memory? A vision? A hallucination?), stuck gazing wide-eyed at what appeared to be her new suitemate, whose blue eyes and dyed hair matched those of the mermaid she had seen ( _thought_ she had seen, she mentally corrected) in Italy perfectly. Too perfectly. The amount of familiarity Peridot had with her appearance did not mesh with the fact that the girl currently glaring at her was, of course, still an absolute stranger.

“I _said_ , what are you staring at? Don’t tell me you’re deaf. The staring is freaky, cut it out.” The strange girl scowled in Peridot’s direction, and, upon receiving no response, rolled her eyes and returned to her room, closing the door firmly behind her.

 _Lapis Lazuli_ , read the sign crafted from aqua construction paper on the door. Peridot stared at it for a moment, before she blinked firmly a few times and shook her head as if to clear it from any thoughts of _mermaids_ and other implausible ideas. Just a coincidence, that was it. She had obviously been in a worse state than she had thought after nearly drowning, to have hallucinated a _mermaid_ of all things.

Because, of course, mermaids weren’t real, Peridot thought as she headed back to her own room, sparing a single glance across the common living space towards her blue-haired suitemate’s door.

Definitely not real.

_Right?_


	3. The Suite Life of Lapis and Peridot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot is starting to think that Lapis might hold a grudge against her for some reason...and is trying to enact revenge by annoying Peridot to death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to stick to a weekly update schedule for this fic, but that might fluctuate a bit in the next couple weeks as I'm going to be doing a bit of traveling. On the upside, I've finished exams! Anyway, on with the chapter!

Peridot was definitely not avoiding Lapis.

Maybe they _coincidentally_ never occupied the common area of their suite at the same time, and maybe Peridot _happened_ to always be busy when Lapis was using the tiny dorm-room kitchenette, but none of that meant that she was _avoiding_ her suitemate.

Granted, Peridot was still a little rattled from her initial encounter with the girl, and the memories it had brought to light. Logically, she knew there was absolutely no way the vision she had had could be true. For one, mermaids were entirely fictional. For another, Lapis very clearly had two legs, and if the off-key wailing she was forced to endure on a daily basis was any indication, she obviously hadn’t traded her singing voice to acquire them. Peridot’s life was not The Little Mermaid, and she planned to keep it as such.

In order to keep the lingering thoughts of merpeople and fantastical sea creatures out of her head, Peridot had thrown herself into research about _real_ sea life. With access to the university databases and extensive library, she had the ability to read almost any published piece on the topic. These days, her single room was buried under multiple layers of old marine biology textbooks and printouts of PDF-format articles from journals written from anywhere between three months and twenty years ago. She had stopped just short of constructing a corkboard to connect her evidence with string—as much as Peridot found the “eccentric detective” trope amusing, she was doing serious academic research, not coming up with crackpot theories about aliens or Bigfoot or… _mermaids._

There had to be a reasonable explanation for why she hadn’t drowned on that sunny day in Italy. By all accounts, Peridot should be dead by now. She had been pulled under, was beyond help and far from shore by the time she had blacked out. The only way she could have survived would have been if something (or some _body_? her mind supplied) had been able to drag her from the water to the beach, where she had been informed that she had been found. So far, Peridot was still placing her money on _octopus_. They had been proven to possess a surprising level of intelligence, with one even going so far as memorizing an aquarium guard’s schedule so that it could sneak out of its tank and go fishing in a neighboring enclosure. Surely something with that level of intelligence would be able to rescue a drowning human?

The only roadblock she was running into with that theory was that there was no way any known variety of octopus in the region could have pulled somebody of her size out of the ocean, against the current, and up a beach. Which left the options of her savior being a new, previously unknown octopus species, some other sea creature entirely, or…

The sound of waves crashing against a shore broke Peridot out of her reverie. She pushed aside the stack of papers she had been hunched over at her desk, and glared at the wall directly in front of her: the wall she shared with Lapis Lazuli.       

Though they had not talked since their first, ill-met encounter, Peridot knew quite a few things about her blue-haired suitemate. She was practically nocturnal and took most of her classes at night. She would listen to angsty music without headphones, but at a volume where nobody except for Peridot was bothered by it. She drank green tea by the bucketful, and left her teabags out on the kitchen counter. And most peculiarly of all, Peridot was fairly sure she was the one responsible for the recent increase in salt theft from the school cafeteria, judging by the impressive quantity of single-use saltshakers she kept encountering in the common space of the suite.

Peridot had previously ignored the noise coming through the thin walls, but the “Sounds of the Sea” soundtrack was, in her mind, the last straw. She was going to go give Lapis a piece of her mind, even if it was already past 1 AM. _Especially_ since it was past 1 AM. That was intruding into designated quiet hours, and those were established so that people could sleep before class. Peridot didn’t sleep at this time, but _some_ people had to, right?

She strode purposefully towards Lapis’ door, unchanged since the beginning of the year. Raising one hand, she closed her fist to rap sharply on the door, only for it to swing open before she could make contact

Lapis was leaning against the doorframe with an air of casualness that only served to infuriate Peridot further.

“Hey there, neighbor. Peridot, was it? We never were properly introduced; I seem to remember my attempt to say hello being met with you gawking at me for five full minutes. What brings you to my door at this hour of the night?”

“You know exactly why I’m here!” Peridot exclaimed, irritation evident in her voice. “Every night, for the past two weeks, you’ve played music until the freaking _sun_ rose! Some of us have work to do, and classes to get to!"

Lapis smirked. “ _You_ don’t have class until noon on Thursdays, so I’m not sure why you’re so angry. Everybody else is fine with it.”

Peridot was somewhat taken aback by the realization that Lapis knew her schedule, and spent a moment floundering while she thought of a response. “Maybe not, but I have to sleep sometime! And besides, who listens to _ocean sounds_ for fun?”

“They’re relaxing. Remind me of home.”

“Well, I can’t deal with them! They remind me of a pretty bad experience that I had recently.”

For a moment, Peridot thought she saw a flicker of concern cross Lapis’ face. But it was gone as soon as it came, leaving her to question if it was ever there in the first place. Her suitemate’s expression reverted to a sickening grin.

“Maybe you should start wearing headphones to sleep, then. I’m not planning on changing what I listen to just because of some entitled classmate.” Lapis punctuated the statement by firmly shutting the door in Peridot’s face, leaving her staring wide-eyed at the cheap wood grain.

Peridot considered hammering on the door, or trying to force it open, but realized quickly that that would only result in another circular conversation. Sighing loudly, she pivoted on one foot to head back to her own room, only to stop short when she noticed the presence of her final suitemate standing next to the sofa by the entrance to the double room across the common area.

“Peridot.” stated Garnet, the intimidatingly tall senior who shared a room with Amethyst. Peridot gulped. Garnet was a bit of a mystery to her. Amethyst assured her that Garnet was “super cool” once you got to know her, but Peridot had only encountered the older student a few times.

“Y-yes?” she stammered, cursing her suddenly dry mouth. Garnet seemed unfazed.

“Are you busy? I’d like a word, if you don’t mind. You can step into mine and Amethyst’s room for a moment.”

Peridot quickly realized she didn’t really have much choice in the matter. Temporarily rendered speechless, she nodded mutely and walked across the tiny common space towards the doorway Garnet was indicating.

She was _so_ dead.


	4. Garnet, a Conversation, and Ocean Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot talks with Garnet about the Lapis Situation, and continues her pattern of having Weird Dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a few days late--I've been traveling and didn't have super reliable internet access or time to post anything. Thank you all so much again for the continued kudos, comments, and general support for this story; I cannot explain how much it means that you're enjoying the story I mostly wrote to entertain myself when on holiday last year. Anyway, on with the chapter, where we finally meet Garnet!

Although Garnet, as a senior, was only one year older than Peridot, she gave the impression of having been around for centuries more. Her impressive height didn’t help Peridot feel less intimidated: Garnet stood at almost 6’4”, drastically taller than Peridot’s measly 4’11”.

Peridot quickly glanced around the room shared by Amethyst and Garnet, intent on avoiding eye contact with the latter. Then, mentally berating herself for her worries, she raised her eyes to meet Garnet’s level gaze, noticing for the first time that her eyes were two different colors. The asymmetry was usually hidden by the large shades that her suitemate wore everyday, but in the middle of the night, even Garnet removed her distinctive eyewear.

“So, Peridot. I’ve noticed that you and Lapis don’t get along particularly well.”

Peridot’s mouth was dry. She managed to croak out a “no, not really,” and glanced at the ground.

“I see. Is there a particular reason for this?” Garnet questioned, in a tone that made it seem as if she already knew the answer. Peridot had noticed that Garnet often appeared to know everything that was going on around campus, and had initially written it off as her being unusually well-informed. Now, though, face-to-face, Peridot wasn’t so sure–although she wondered how Garnet would know the answer to this particular question, when Peridot herself wasn’t certain why, exactly, Lapis had ended up as the main antagonist in her life.

“Not…not really. No good reason, actually. But every little thing she does gets on my nerves, from the teabags to the music to just…all the _blue_!” Peridot blurted out, trying to articulate her frustration as much as she could. She knew that none of those behaviors actually reflected the heart of the matter, annoying as they were. However, Peridot knew she couldn’t very well say “she might be a mermaid and also might have saved my life over the summer and is now here and is being very secretive about the whole ordeal and if you save somebody’s life, you probably shouldn’t be immediately hostile towards them, right?” without sounding like some kind of crazed conspiracy nut.

Garnet looked a little disappointed at Peridot’s answer. She held the girl’s green gaze, as if she were searching within her very soul, though her typically stoic facial expression remained unchanged. After a moment or two, Garnet looked away, and turned towards the bunk beds she shared with Amethyst. “You should sort that out. It’s not good for any of us to be at odds. We need to live together, and to live together, we should cooperate. I think you’ll find you have more in common than you think.”

Peridot had never seen Garnet and Lapis interact, and as such had no idea how Garnet knew anything about Lapis’ interests, but she wasn’t about to argue and risk prolonging the somewhat uncomfortable conversation. She instead stayed silent, and nodded her head in acknowledgement. Not sure if the discussion was over, however, Peridot hovered awkwardly in the doorway, waiting for some sort of cue.

“You’re free to go, Peridot,” Garnet supplied. “Just try and make peace with Lapis, please. It’ll make life around here quieter.”

Peridot slipped out of the doorway and crossed the common space back towards her own room. The conversation weighed on her, full of questions and confusion. Garnet was somewhat of an enigma, she decided. She would have sworn that the older student knew how everything regarding the Lapis Situation was going to turn out in the end, but was refraining from all but the most cryptic intervention. As it was, Peridot really only wanted to figure out what was going on with her summer ocean rescue, mysterious suitemates be damned. She sighed and collapsed once more into the hard wooden chair at her desk. Vaguely, she noticed that Lapis had turned her music off. Had the blue-haired girl decided to listen to Peridot’s complaint, or had she simply fallen asleep?

Peridot blinked blearily, and decided the answer to that didn’t really matter. What she needed to do now was continue with her extracurricular research. Hopefully, she would be able to gather enough information in order to justify submitting the project to her academic advisor as an independent study; Ms Diamanté had already requested that Peridot meet with her within the next week to discuss her future academic prospcts. She held up the top sheet of printer paper, intent on dissecting its contents. But the words were swimming around on the page, and Peridot felt the exhaustion that had been building at the back of her head for days take over. Surely one little nap wouldn’t hurt? She would set the alarm, and….and…probably wake up at some point? She couldn’t think straight, really. Dropping her head to her crossed arms over a textbook, Peridot let her eyes slip closed. Couldn’t hurt, after all…

_Deep water, cold and clear. She was perched on a rock at a street corner, observing the tall, coral-clad buildings hidden deep in a crevasse of the ocean. At this depth, the ocean floor would usually be black as night, but phosphorescent plant life gave the place an eerie yellow glow. People…._ mer _people went about their business, the hustle and bustle of a city mimicked perfectly underwater. Despite her obligations, all she wanted to do was watch the people of the city go by, a pastime she hadn’t indulged in for quite some time._

_A pang of nostalgia coursed through her. It used to be so lively, so bright. Colors were everywhere, and the whole city had been farther inland, closer to the beach and the light. Her kind were not supposed to be down here, in the cool darkness of the deep ocean. It was affecting all of them to an extent; their scales were fading and they had less energy. The food was bland and tasteless, and she had noticed even her limited powers decreasing. The kingdom was in a sorry state, overall._

_Why was she here, again? Or rather, why was she not here? She became aware that this was a memory, that she had not been in this place for many weeks. Where did she go? She could recall a pull, an urgency to remedy something. She vaguely remembered setting out to go collect shellfish from near the shore, a task she enjoyed because it gave her a rare chance to feel the sun on her scales, and to (carefully!) observe the land-bound humans from a distance. But she had never even begun her chore, because she had been called to…_

_To…_

_To what?_

Peridot awoke to the sun streaming through her small window and a thick, fuzzy taste in her mouth. She absentmindedly rubbed at her eyes, and fished her phone out from her front pocket. Unlocking it, she held it close to her face to be able to see the time: quarter to one in the afternoon.

It took her a second to truly comprehend the numbers on the screen, but once she did, she jumped out of the chair as if it had burned her. She was going to be late!


	5. Independent Study

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I've not fallen off the face of the earth! Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter--I had to edit it a lot more than the previous chapters, and on top of that, I've been preoccupied by returning to the USA after six months away. Hopefully I can get back to updating roughly every week again now, though! Thank you all so much for sticking with me, and as always, special thanks to everyone who has left comments/kudos--you really do give me the motivation I need to work on this fic! 
> 
> Also: how about those new episodes? 
> 
> (Want updates on when new chapters of this fic are going to come out? Or to see the original, unedited chapter 5, with drunken spelling mistakes and all? I've created a tumblr specifically for that purpose: follow experimentaldragonfire-fics.tumblr.com for all your unnecessary bonus-content news!)

Long rays of amber-yellow light streamed through the office windows, casting the face of Peridot’s academic advisor, Professor Y. Diamanté, in a vaguely jaundiced tone. She peered down at Peridot over her angular reading glasses, the girl’s prospectus in her hand.

“So you want my permission to write a paper about…” she squinted at the paper she was holding. “…super-intelligent marine life in the Mediterranean Sea as an independent study project?”

Peridot gulped. “That’s correct, professor.” She hoped her voice wasn’t shaking too much. Professor Diamanté could intimidate even the most composed student.

“Is this in any way related to the…incident…from this summer?”

“Well…yes. In a way. I was thinking about it a lot, and realized that with the direction of the tide, there’s no way that I would have made it to shore without external aid. And that made me wonder what kind of creature would be able to pull a human against the current. And so I wanted to do research on that topic anyway, and I kind of figured it might be good to see if I could get the research recognized so I could get academic credit…?” A hopeful tone entered Peridot’s voice towards the end of the sentence. Her advisor’s face remained impassive.

After a long, painful silence, Professor Diamanté spoke. “Very well. Do your research. Report to me every fortnight with your progress. The paper is due on the Saturday before the end of the semester, at 6:30 AM sharp. You are dismissed.”

She plucked a file folder off of the side of her desk and slid the prospectus into it, before snapping the folder shut with a finality that made Peridot reluctant to press the matter any further. She muttered a "thank you" and left as quickly and quietly as possible.

* * *

 

Five days later, and Peridot was already running into difficulties with her research. Recorded instances of unusually-intelligent marine animals were generally focused on creatures from regions outside of the Mediterranean, or were only observed in captivity, or were only referenced as being a possible explanation for the prevalence of myths about human-like ocean-dwelling species. On top of this, her sleep was becoming more frequently interrupted by persistent dreams of her near-drowning experience, and by noise from the other side of the wall. After her…discussion with Lapis the other day, she had hoped that she would be more considerate when it came to Peridot’s sleep schedule, but it seemed that her suitemate was going out of her way to play music at all hours of the night.

Peridot was fed up with the whole ordeal. She wished that she could stop thinking about the ocean, that she could forget the incident with her mysterious rescue. But it was important that she carry on her investigations, if not for the academic credit, then simply to reassure herself that there was a solution that didn’t hinge upon her suitemate somehow being a mermaid who had followed her halfway across the globe from Italy to America. Because, unfortunately, that was her only other idea. And even without saying it out loud, Peridot knew it sounded crazy.

However, privately, she was starting to think that the idea that she was rescued by a mermaid (Peridot still refused, really, to believe that Lapis could have saved her from _anything_ , given the blue-haired girl’s current attitude towards her) wasn’t so implausible after all. Having mostly exhausted any other possibility, her recurring dreams of the sea all had a common theme: namely, that she wasn’t seeing events from her own perspective. After the third or fourth incidence of these nighttime cinematics, Peridot had become convinced that she was viewing her rescue from the perspective of her rescuer.

Every dream started out similarly: she (or the person whose perspective she was borrowing) was going out to conduct some sort of routine task, but was interrupted halfway through doing this by some sort of disturbance in the water. Although Peridot usually woke up at around this point, she had occasionally been able to observe the dream’s protagonist turning in the direction of a mass of bubbles, through which could faintly be distinguished a bit of blonde hair and a green shirt sleeve.

After realizing the significance of these observations, she had tried to take more note of the surrounding environment at the beginning of the dream. She had checked out library books on the topics of the climate and inhabitants of the Mediterranean Sea, and begun a second “conspiracy wall,” as she called it, on the topic of mythical sea life and mermaids in particular.

Peridot was in the middle of tacking up a few newspaper articles about some sailors who claimed to have been saved by sirens from drowning in the 1950s when she caught a glimpse of her digital alarm clock’s dim display. The red numbers informed her that it was half past three in the morning, and Peridot recalled suddenly that she had a scheduled breakfast with her physics professor at 8 AM. Glaring at the piles of printouts she had yet to stick to the wall, Peridot decided that she should really get a little bit of sleep in case her professor decided that she needed to investigate the dark shadows that had developed under her eyes these past couple weeks. She threw her glasses on top of a stack of books and crawled under the cheap comforter haphazardly strewn over her bed.

Just as Peridot began to doze off, she became aware of the tinny sound of crashing waves coming from the other side of the wall near her head. Ugh. _Lapis._

Peridot rapped her knuckles on the wall sharply, garnering a sleepy “ _Yeah?_ ” from her neighbor.

“Can you quit it with the ocean soundtrack? Trying to sleep here!”

“It wouldn’t be an issue if you slept at reasonable hours!”

“Like you obviously do? At least listen to something other than the _Sounds of the Sea, volume IV_!! I’ve told you that brings back bad memories!”

“Sorry that I don’t really care that you’re _sensitive_ , we’ve all got to sleep sometime!” Peridot thought she detected multiple levels of sarcasm in Lapis’ comment, and rolled her eyes. However, despite her neighbor’s snide remarks, she noticed that the volume of the ocean noises had decreased significantly. Maybe Lapis wasn’t as disinterested with Peridot’s wellbeing as she pretended?

Peridot almost laughed audibly at the thought. Yeah, right. Lapis clearly held some sort of grudge against her. At least she had turned the volume down, for whatever reason. Hopefully she would be able to get a few hours' undisturbed rest.


	6. The Way To A Girl's Heart Is, Surprisingly, Not Through Spying On Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this story recently hit both 100 kudos and 1000 hits, which is...ridiculous, honestly. Wow. I'm floored that there are that many people who have both read and enjoyed this fic, and I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who's so much as read even one chapter. Special thanks to anyone who's commented, kudos'd, bookmarked, subscribed, and whatever else the kids are doing these days. You're all fantastic, and the reason I keep writing.
> 
> Want to know how the next chapter's coming along? General bonus content? Me rambling about how I should be writing? Follow experimentaldragonfire-fics.tumblr.com to find out!

It started out as Peridot trying to convince herself that there was no way her suitemate could be a mermaid, let alone the mermaid that had saved her life in the Mediterranean.

That’s what she told herself, anyway, as she watched with her eye pressed to the spyhole of her dorm door, observing Lapis wandering around the common area to make herself a drink before she returned to doing…homework, probably…on her small, basic laptop. Peridot wasn’t _spying_ , of course. That would be weird. She wasn’t weird. She was just…proving a point.

An odd motion caught her eye. Lapis was reaching for something to add to her tea, but she was in entirely the wrong cupboard if she was looking for the sugar. Instead, the girl grabbed the container that Peridot was certain contained salt, and poured a hefty amount into her mug. She stirred the contents a couple times, and took a sip. Peridot expected her to realize her mistake and spit out the concoction, but instead, Lapis briefly smiled and chucked the spoon in the sink before returning to the small, uncomfortable couch.

This wasn’t the most unusual thing Peridot had witnessed in her continued observation of Lapis, though. Over the past day and a half, she had begun to notice that Lapis mostly avoided the shared bathroom in the suite, and Peridot was starting to realize that she didn’t think she had ever seen Lapis take a shower. In fact, she was fairly certain that she didn’t keep any shower products in their bathroom, which wouldn’t be massively abnormal apart from the fact that she would then have to bring them back and forth, and her brief glimpses into her suitemate’s room didn’t seem to show any form of shower caddy to keep shampoo and conditioner in.

Today’s spying (or, sorry, _observation_ ) was continuing to yield more information about her neighbor. As Lapis worked on her assignments, with her back towards Peridot’s door, the strap of her tank top began to slide off her shoulder, revealing a smooth, dark blue line towards the center of her back. Peridot narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better view. Was that…a tattoo? It could be a coincidence (after all, lots of people had tattoos), but the shape, from the little she was able to see, appeared to resemble a water droplet. That was another thing about Lapis connecting her to water (or, at least, making her apparent dislike for water more confusing).

Peridot moved her arm against the door, trying to lean in and see the marking closer. Unfortunately, this caused her whole weight against the door to shift, causing it to bang against the doorframe with a fairly loud noise. Lapis looked up, startled. She turned towards the door.

“Peridot?” she called, quizzically. Peridot tried to stay as quiet as possible.

“Peridot, is that you? What…are you doing?” Lapis asked. Figuring she had pretty much been found out, Peridot determined there was no reason in keeping quiet anymore.

“I’m okay! Just, you know…rearranging some things in here! Books and everything! Spring cleaning!” she babbled, trying to come up with an explanation that wasn’t, in essence, “I was spying on you.”

“Spring cleaning? It’s…October?” Lapis questioned.

“Yeah, I’m getting a head start! Better to start early!” Peridot could have kicked herself.

Lapis didn’t seem convinced, but turned back to her computer. “Okay…don’t hurt yourself? If you tip your bookshelf over, nobody will find you for months.” She ended the almost-concerned statement with a return to her usual biting remarks, and the atmosphere returned to something almost more typical of their normal banter. Peridot decided it was best to give up on her observations for now, as Lapis clearly was aware that something was up.

She headed for her desk, where she was compiling a list of her blue-haired suitemate’s odd behaviors. Peridot grabbed her chewed-up pen and clicked the end in, adding “Salt in tea?” and “teardrop tattoo?” to the end of a bulleted list that began with “enjoys whale sounds” and included such things as “never touches water” and “always has bright hair and never seems to dye it.”

* * *

 

The second hand on the clock ticked faintly as Peridot stared at it, willing every instant to pass faster so that she could get away from class and back to Definitely Not Spying On Lapis. She usually enjoyed Professor Quartz’s lectures, but recently she’d been increasingly distracted by her theories about how her blue-haired suitemate could be connected to her summer rescue. Peridot absently glanced at the front of the room, where her professor was explaining a complicated physics equation, and decided that she’d been zoned out for too long to bother paying attention now.

Turning her gaze to the other members of her class, she noted that Pearl, her TA, was on the edge of her seat, listening to information she almost definitely already knew with attention more befitting a lecture on the secrets of the universe. Pearl always seemed strangely invested in Professor Quartz’s lectures—more so than the average TA. Peridot made a mental note to ask Amethyst about the behavior—for two such dissimilar people, her and Pearl hung out together surprisingly often.

A sudden flurry of students packing up their notebooks and laptops alerted Peridot to the end of the lecture, and she shoved her barely-legible notes into her backpack with haphazard carelessness. Now to get back to her room, and figure out exactly what it was that was up with Lapis—

Her train of thought was cut off as she bumped into the solid figure of somebody trying to get into the lecture room she was just leaving.

“Oh, sorry!” she exclaimed, still trying to get out as quickly as possible.

“Watch where you’re going— _Peridot??_ ” came the response from the unfortunate person she’d walked into. Looking up, Peridot noticed for the first time that her conversational partner was her former roommate, the girl who’d thrown her into the sea.

_"Jasper?_ ”

“What are you—well…I guess you ended up okay after this summer?”

Distracted, Peridot tried to end the conversation. “Yes, I’m fine. No thanks to you. But yes, everything worked out.”                                                                                                                             
“Hey, I’m sorry about that, but we’re good, right?” Jasper seemed as if she was trying to keep the interaction going, but Peridot wasn’t having it.

“Sure. Look, I’ve gotta go, so I’ll see you around, okay? Bye.”

Without looking back, Peridot brushed past Jasper and exited the lecture hall, barely managing to maintain a restrained walking pace back to her dorm.

* * *

Some time later, Peridot found herself lying on the floor outside Lapis’ room, trying to peer under the crack of her door, when Lapis swung the door open. Her deep blue eyes widened when she saw the green-clad student at her feet.

“What the fuck are you doing there, Peridot? What’s so interesting about the carpet outside my room?”

Thinking fast, Peridot gave her most plausible excuse. “I dropped an earring back over here, and I’m trying to find it again! They were my grandmother’s, I don’t want to disappoint her memory by losing them.”

However, this time Lapis seemed unconvinced. Mostly because Peridot had overlooked a fairly important detail. “You don’t have pierced ears, though? Isn’t that kind of a prerequisite of owning earrings?”

Panicking, Peridot looked anywhere but Lapis’ eyes. “Well, um…uh…”

“I don’t appreciate how you’ve been following me recently! I turn a corner, and there you are! I open a door, and you’re behind it! Don’t you have a life, classes? Things to do besides annoy me?”

Peridot could only sit in stunned silence, acknowledging that Lapis might, actually, have a point.

“Honestly, I have things to do too! This is stressful, not knowing why you’re following me. Just…go, alright? Leave me alone!” Lapis turned around and headed for the front door of the suite, disappearing into the hallway and leaving behind only the _slam_ of the door closing. Peridot sat on the floor, a little taken aback and more than a bit embarrassed. Maybe she kind of… _had_ been stalking Lapis recently. Maybe she should just give up on the whole thing.

But she was so _close!_ She was sure she would be able to find out the answers. Just one more night, then. One last shot, and if she didn’t have conclusive evidence, she would abandon the mermaid investigation and give it up.

Maybe one night would make all the difference.


	7. Swimming Pool Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe how much happened in the SDCC episode!! And a movie?? Why must there be so much time between canon SU content??
> 
> On a different note, however, here it is, the chapter you've been waiting for....  
> (Well. One of the chapters you've been waiting for. I'm incapable of writing anything that isn't ultra-slowburn, so any Actual Relationship Shenanigans are a while off and interspersed with Unnecessary Amounts of Plot. Rest assured, we'll get there someday!)
> 
> Once again, thank you all so much for reading, and especially for leaving comments and kudos! It genuinely brightens my day to see what you have to say! :D

It was 2AM, and Peridot was staring in silence at the stretch of white wall above her desk that marked the barrier between her room and Lapis’.

Her suitemate had returned a few hours ago after the Floor Incident, and in the meantime Peridot had been in a heated mental debate about whether or not she should give up on her whole “figure out what’s up with Lapis” endeavor.

To be honest, she was starting to wonder if she hadn’t been going too far with the so-called “investigations.” Was she getting too wrapped up in research? It was true that she had barely left the building in a couple weeks, and every time she ran into Amethyst, her friend seemed genuinely surprised that she was still around. Distantly, Peridot knew she was being unreasonable—her weird dreams combined with her lack of sleep were leading her to make bad decisions and entertain wild thoughts that she would never have otherwise considered.

Such as, for instance, wondering if her suitemate was secretly a mermaid.

The sound of drawers opening and shutting from the next room caught Peridot’s attention. What was Lapis doing at this hour that involved rummaging through all her clothes? Leaning closer to the wall, Peridot heard the jingle of keys, preceding the louder sound of Lapis closing and locking her door. She noted the soft echo of footsteps walking down the corridor, past her room, and out of the suite.

Where was Lapis going?

Shrugging off her second thoughts about how this was probably a bad idea, and how it was even more of an invasion of privacy than what she had done earlier that day, Peridot slipped on a pair of worn tennis shoes and grabbed a jacket, before quietly tiptoeing out of the main door of the suite. She caught a glimpse of Lapis’ bright hair at the end of the hall, and followed as quickly as she dared, knowing that her presence would be impossible to explain if the other girl caught her.

Lapis walked confidently across the main courtyard, shrouded in the gloomy yellow light from the tall lamps that lined the paths crisscrossing the grass. She took a left at the nearby intersection, and headed in the direction of a building with an artsy glass façade—a building which Peridot could only identify by the all-caps lettering on the sign outside: CORUNDUM ATHLETIC CENTER.

So, Lapis was going on a nighttime quest to…get some exercise? Peridot had never actually been to the athletic building, but she was pretty sure that it closed at the same time as the other student facilities. 2AM was certainly outside of the usual operating hours for such places. Why would Lapis come here?

Lost in thought, Peridot’s toe lodged on the raised edge of a paving stone. She caught herself before falling, but the resulting noise caused Lapis to visibly tense up. She swung around to see the cause of the sound, but Peridot had dived behind a large ornamental rock display. Peridot breathed as shallowly as possible, hoping that Lapis wouldn’t investigate further. Luckily, Lapis seemed to have written the disturbance off as just being a nocturnal squirrel or some other campus wildlife, and continued on.

Peeking out from behind the rock, Peridot saw that Lapis didn’t approach the front door of the building, but rather ducked down a dark, disused alleyway between the old section and the recently remodeled part of the building. Peridot emerged from her hiding place to creep after her, silently grateful for her well-worn-in sneakers, which made almost no noise on the flagstones outside the building. She peered around the corner into the alley, just in time to see Lapis kick away a fist-sized rock that was wedged between the doorframe and the door itself of a doorway that looked as if it hadn’t been particularly functional in years. Lapis slipped through the door, and carefully replaced the rock so that the door would not shut all the way. Peridot guessed that the rock prevented the door from locking, leaving no way in or out of the building.

After a few moments, Peridot quietly followed Lapis, removing and then replacing the rock after having entered the athletic center. Though Lapis was out of sight by the time Peridot had finished adjusting her eyes to the darkness of the building, she could hear the other girl’s footsteps nearby. The door had led into an old storage closet, in which Peridot could vaguely distinguish the shapes of lane markers for the university’s swimming pool, as well as a few railings full of very old swim team uniforms. Peridot exited the closet to find herself in a long hallway, lined with photographs of the various aquatic sports teams that had represented the university throughout the years. Lapis’ footsteps were audible down the hall to the left, so Peridot hurried in that direction.

As she walked farther down the hall, Peridot noticed the humidity in the air increasing, as well as an overpowering scent of chlorine. A quiet splash of water confirmed her suspicions—Lapis was sneaking into the athletic center at night to use the pool.

While Peridot was trying not to get her hopes up (there were thousands of reasons why somebody might sneak into a pool after hours, right? Maybe Lapis just liked her privacy while swimming!), she had to admit that it sort of felt like all the pieces of her puzzle were falling into place. The salt? The general aversion to water? The _Sounds of the Sea_ CD? Peridot had been plagued by thoughts and theories for weeks about Lapis, and this might be the definitive moment that proved whether she was actually right…or if she had just been wasting her time theorizing about nothing more than a legend.

When she reached the door to the pool, Peridot paused to take a deep, shuddering breath. This was it. This was when she found out whether her conspiracy theory about Lapis being the mermaid from her dreams, from her memories, who had saved her life over the summer, was correct. This would either be the moment that her life changed forever, or the moment where she realized that she might never have an answer to the question of what saved her from drowning.

Steadying herself by grasping the cool metal of the door handle, Peridot poked her head into the doorway, squinting into the dim light and cloying heat of the pool. For a few moments, she could see nothing, and her only proof that anyone else was in the room were the faint splashing noises coming from the direction of the Olympic-size swimming pool. Then, as her eyes adjusted, she noticed a faint glow coming from the water, followed by a glimmer of moonlight through the glass skylights reflecting off of… _something_.

Peridot blinked, and suddenly, she saw everything clearly. A giant, royal blue fin raised out of the water, connected to a _tail_ , deep blue with flecks of gold at the edge of each scale. The swimmer’s fingers were webbed together with the most delicate blue membranes, and three gill slits flared down each side of her neck.

Lapis Lazuli had broken into the university swimming pool at 2AM not just for fun, but because she was, actually, really-and-truly, cross-your-heart, a _mermaid_.


	8. Dilemmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another chapter! This time, we've got Peri trying to figure out what she's supposed to do now that she knows Lapis' Big Secret...because I wasn't going to let her get off too easy after having stalked her suitemate for like 6 chapters. 
> 
> Also, I'm planning on participating in Lapidot AU Week next week, so if you're enjoying my writing so far, maybe consider checking out whatever I come up with for that? :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Peridot sat cross-legged on the rough carpet next to her bed and stared blankly up at her corkboard, where weeks of enthusiastic theorizing had led her to the conclusion that mermaids certainly should not exist. That all her weird dreams, her flashbacks, her _next door neighbor_ had absolutely nothing in common.

All of her research, however, could not refute what she had seen with her own eyes tonight.

After having followed Lapis to the pool, after seeing the blue-haired girl suddenly sprout a _tail_ , Peridot could have no more doubts on the matter. She had to face the facts—mermaids were not only real, but she had been living with one for the past few months.

She was also beginning to be sure that Lapis must have been the mermaid who had saved her life back in Italy.

The question remained though—why? Why would Lapis follow her here? And furthermore, was it…right…to keep this information to herself?

Soft footsteps and a key in the door of the room next to hers told Peridot that Lapis had returned from her nocturnal swimming adventure. A few moments later, the familiar sounds of Lapis’ _Sounds of the Sea_ album started up, clearly audible through the paper-thin walls.

For once, Peridot couldn’t find it in her to be annoyed. After all, she couldn’t begin to imagine how lonely it must be for Lapis, so far away from the rest of her kind, living among humans who had absolutely no idea about her world.

Peridot thought that, under those circumstances, she also might not be inclined to be particularly pleasant towards an antisocial conspiracy nut fascinated with undersea life.

With mechanical motions, she heaved herself up from the floor and went about the task of putting on pyjamas and brushing her teeth, before she dropped heavily onto the lumpy, standard-issue college mattress. Peridot wasn’t sure she would actually get any sleep, but if she was going to stay up all night thinking about the current situation, she might as well do so in moderate comfort.

So. Fact #1. Lapis was a mermaid.

Fact #2. Lapis had, most likely, saved her life.

Fact #3. All of Peridot’s academic research had been for absolutely nothing.

It was the last point that really got to her. She had been _so sure_ that she was onto something with the idea of hyperintelligent marine life! She could have made a scientific breakthrough! She would have earned the praise and admiration of Professor Diamanté! She could have submitted her research to any academic journal of her choice! But now…all she had was the knowledge that mermaids, fucking _mermaids_ were behind her miraculous rescue.

Or…. _was_ that all she had?

Peridot sat up in bed, and reached for the small notebook she kept in the top drawer of her bedside table. Fumbling for a pencil, she began to jot down an outline, connecting pieces of her current research on the development of intelligent marine species with her new revelation. This could be…this could be groundbreaking. To be the person who proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that merpeople could have evolved, could have built a society, could have….

But of course, most of that was conjecture. She had no evidence that there was a mermaid society out there. For all she knew, it was just Lapis, an anomaly. Who had…

Well. She had saved Peridot’s life. A fact which made Peridot feel somewhat guilty that she was considering using her existence as part of her academic thesis.

It wasn’t _right_ , really, to keep the fact that she knew Lapis’ secret…well, secret. She tried to think of any reason why she shouldn’t confess what she had been up to, why Lapis shouldn't know that Peridot had found out about her real, oceanic origins.

Peridot came up blank.

Besides, in her past week-and-a-bit of spying (and she admitted now that that was what she had been doing), Peridot had realized that Lapis was maybe the only person at the university with less of a social life than herself.

…

After a mostly-sleepless night, Peridot still wasn’t entirely sure what to do. She had been thinking and overthinking every course of action, lying in bed with the possible scenarios running through her brain. She was beginning to forget what had actually happened, replacing the events in her memory with the ones she had thought about hypothetically happening so many times that she was beginning to consider them as reality.

One thing was sure to help—coffee.

Peridot cracked her door open slightly, peering down the corridor and then across to the living area, confirming that her blue-haired neighbor wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She shoved her feet into a pair of ragged alien-themed slippers, and tiptoed into the kitchenette, the greyish light of early morning illuminating the small space enough that Peridot was confident in her ability to navigate without making much of a noise.

She hadn’t, however, counted on her _other_ suitemates’ odd sleeping schedules.

Peridot’s foot collided with an unexpected obstacle, sending her tumbling to the ground with a surprised squawk. The object (or rather, person) she had landed on also exclaimed in discomfort. Peridot rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand and blinked up at the mass of lilac hair that she encountered. Grabbing her glasses off of the floor, she shoved them on her pointed nose and Amethyst’s face came into sudden focus.

“Hey, P-dot! Long time no see—I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to come out of your room again”

“Amethyst, why are you on the floor at--” Peridot checked her watch. “5:30 AM?”

Amethyst shrugged. “Midmorning snack? You know how it is.”

“Not…really.”

“Anyway. You seem like you’ve got something on your mind. Usually you’re better at sneaking around the place at weird hours”

“I am?”

“Oh, definitely. Sometimes you even manage to avoid stubbing your toes on the furniture”

“…ah. Well, since you mentioned it…I was kind of trying to figure something out”

“Mind sharing?”

“Have you ever…found something out about somebody? Something they’ve kept secret? And you’re not sure if you should tell them if you know, or just try to pretend that you don’t know the thing?”

Amethyst looked at Peridot with a puzzled expression. “That’s…a dilemma. But for what it’s worth, I think it’s better if you tell the person. It’s like the time I accidentally broke Pearl’s violin bow. I tried to pretend that I knew nothing about it, and when she found out, she was more mad that I’d lied about not knowing what happened to it than the fact that I’d broken it in the first place”

Peridot suddenly became very interested in the kitchen floor. “I was afraid you’d say that”

“Sorry, bud. But hey, it can’t be as bad as you think it’s gonna be!”

Peridot let her head fall back against the kitchen cabinets. “Yeah. It’s going to be worse.”


	9. Confessions of a College Conspiracy Nut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, hello again! I'm sorry it's been a while since I've updated this--I was focusing on writing oneshots for Lapidot AU Week. But never fear, chapter 9 is (finally) here! I've been making references to this being an Important Chapter in comments, and really I consider it (and the next chapter) to be a turning point of the fic: you'll see what I mean after reading it. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Thank you to everyone who's been commenting and actively following this fic--you're the reason I keep writing!

Peridot hesitated outside the door to Lapis’ room, poised with her fist inches away from the wood. Then she spun around, away from the door, and returned to pacing up and down the short corridor outside the room.

How does one go about telling their temperamental suitemate that they know their deep, dark, fishy secret?

She came to a sudden halt, and balled her hands into fists. Then, taking a deep breath, before she could regret it, Peridot rapped three times on Lapis’ door.

There was no response for a few seconds. She sighed in relief, but the breath caught in her throat as the door swung open silently, leaving her eye-to-eye (or thereabouts) with the girl whose existence she had been preoccupied with for the past day.

“Yeah?” Lapis questioned, sounding, as always, mildly annoyed. Peridot floundered for a moment, and then decided to be direct.

“I, um…I know.”

“You…know? Know what?” Lapis’ expression turned from bored to guarded, and her tone took on an accusatory nature.

“Lapis…I know about…the _thing!”_ Peridot hissed.

“The _thing?_ ” Lapis pressed. Peridot nearly rolled her eyes. As desperate as she was, she didn’t want to sound mad in earshot of her other suitemates.

“You know, the _thing!_ The… _fish_ thing!”

Lapis’ eyes widened, seemingly shocked at the revelation. Within the span of moments, she had checked the hallway for any observers, then grabbed Peridot’s arm and dragged her quickly into her room, shutting and locking the door behind them.

It was the first time Peridot had ever really had a chance to look at Lapis’ room for more than a few seconds, and she was struck by how… _normal_ it was. It wasn’t all shades of blue; though the color was very present. But Lapis had decorated the space, which was a mirror image of Peridot’s own room, with piles of smooth stones, postcards, and various posters…though the common theme of the decorations did seem to be that they were all somehow related to the sea.

Lapis turned to face Peridot, not letting go of her arm. Their eyes met, clear green and stormy blue.

“You know. Fine. Sure. Go ahead.”

“I’m sorry?”

“What do you mean by the _‘fish thing’?_ ”

Peridot tried to look away, but found her gaze captured. Lapis’ expression, more serious than she had ever seen, transfixed her. She didn’t have a choice.

“The “fish thing” is….that you, Lapis Lazuli, are a mermaid.”

For a heartbeat, there was silence. Then Lapis sighed angrily, let go of Peridot’s arm, and spun around to face her tiny window.

“And I was so _careful!_ I covered my tracks! I never went near water! I have _legs!_ But you still… _how_ did you figure it out?”

Peridot gulped. This was the part she’d _really_ not been looking forward to.

“I may have…um. I followed you. Last night. To the pool. And I, uh, I saw you. With the tail. Which is…really…just confirmation?”

Lapis let out a noise somewhere between a groan and a very muffled scream.

“Of all the stupid….I knew I heard something…there’s nothing I can say that’ll convince you otherwise, is there?”

“Lapis…you put salt in your tea. You listen to _The Sounds of the Sea_ every. Single. Fucking. Night. And you’ve got a tail. It’s blue. Like your hair. And that’s…that’s not all.”

Lapis glared at her suspiciously. “It’s not?”

“I think…well…I’ve been having these _dreams._ ”

“Dreams? I’m surprised you actually sleep.”

“Ha, ha. But really—I think they’re…well, you’re in them. In the sea. And I think—sometimes they’re like…it’s like _I’m_ the mermaid? Like I’m seeing things from your point of view?”

Lapis frowned. “Go on…?”

“Lapis…did you…maybe…did you save me from drowning, this summer?” Peridot looked up, meeting Lapis’ eyes. Lapis sighed.

“…Yeah. Yeah, I did. Guess I have to tell you now, don’t I?”

Peridot tilted her head. “I mean, you don’t… _have_ to. It’s your story. But if it’s all the same, I’d _like_ you to?”

Lapis pulled out her desk chair and sat down, crossing one knee over the other. Taking the hint that this was going to be a long discussion, Peridot awkwardly perched on the edge of the untidily made bed.

Lapis took a deep breath, and began:

“It was a day like any other, really. I live...well, _lived_ in what you call the Mediterranean, not too far off the coast. Farther than we used to, though—you humans never used to be able to go underwater so far offshore. We’ve had to move. It’s so _dark_ in the deeper water, and we’re not really built for those conditions. Even now, we all long for the sun, for the warmth. I went out to gather some shellfish, for lack of anything better to do and because it meant I could go up towards the shallows, a safe distance away from the beaches. But halfway there, I felt…it was like a magnet. Stronger than anything I’d experienced before. I knew there was somewhere else I had to be, somewhere closer to the shore. I couldn’t resist; it pulled me away.

All merfolk have some kind of…well, I guess you’d call it ‘magic,’ as unscientific as you’d consider that. We’re good at it to varying degrees. Mostly, we’ve each got one area that we’re good at—some of us can communicate with fish, some can always locate recent shipwrecks, some can see even at the darkest depths, some of us even have bioluminescence. But I didn’t have a specific skill, really. Not until—well, not until I met you.

I swam towards the shore, and I saw this human shape, sinking fast. Struggling against the water, against the current, against the clothes they had on. We’re not supposed to interfere with humans. It’s gone badly too many times before. But I just…I couldn’t not help. Not just because of whatever was pulling me towards you, but because I just…I couldn’t let somebody die, just like that. Just gone, forever, in front of my eyes.

I grabbed you just as you passed out, and…well. I had to…the thing was…you were pretty far gone, by that point. We were pretty far down. You wouldn’t have made it. But the force in my head, the…I guess it was instinct? Something? I knew how to save you, despite not having any experience with drowning humans. So I had to…I, uh. I kissed you. To save your life. It was the only thing I could do”

Peridot gaped. “You _kissed_ me?”

“Unfortunately.”

“How did that…contribute to you saving me?”

“I don’t…exactly know. It was just something I knew I had to do?”

“Wait. But, you saved me…and left. I remember that. You brought me to the beach, and swam away. Why are you _here_?”

“Well, that’s the interesting part. The annoying part. The part that I resent, really.”

“…resent?”

“I was okay for a few days after I left you. But then…I can’t describe it. It was like all of the colors were fading. I was tired, really tired. I couldn’t think clearly. And the force, again, was pulling me away. So I had to leave, had to follow where I was meant to go. Peridot, I had to leave my family, everyone I know, my entire community behind just to chase after you, just so that I can feel _normal_ again! I’m living here in disguise, going to _university_ , on _land_ , because if I get more than three miles away from you, I start feeling weak. And I can’t explain how much I hate that.”


	10. Step 1: Apologize for Stalking Your Suitemate. Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, after several weeks, I'm BACK! I definitely didn't expect to take this long to post this chapter, and I sincerely apologize for that--College Happened. The last two weeks were absolutely crazy for me as I helped out with new student orientation and organized meetings and clubs and stuff for the new school year. But now, ironically, since classes have started up again, I've got more time! 
> 
> Updates might still be irregular for a bit, since I've got to write a lot to rebuild my backlog of written-but-not-edited-or-posted chapters that I've been relying on in the past month. But hopefully from here on out, I'll have some actual free time in which to do that!
> 
> Thank you so much as always to everyone who's left comments/kudos on this fic--you guys are honestly the reason I keep writing, and hearing your thoughts on the chapters never fails to absolutely make my day! Special shoutout as well to @acechick_ace, whose first posted AO3 fic was partly inspired by TTS (holy crap!)!
> 
> Now on with the chapter!

Peridot stared at the floor. Lapis’ revelation about their connection really did clear a lot of things up. For one, why she had been so hostile towards Peridot—being forced to be within a certain distance of a complete stranger for no good reason would make anyone angry.

“I feel like I should…apologize? I shouldn’t have tried to pry into your life as much as I did.”

Lapis sighed. “I mean, you didn’t ask for this. I guess I’ve kind of been making this difficult as well—it’s not like it’s your fault. I was just looking for someone to blame, really. And, of course, you were there. And I wasn’t thinking…”

“It was still wrong of me to follow you the other day,” Peridot interjected. “Even though it did confirm what I already knew. But I got a little obsessed, and didn’t realize I’d gone too far.” She fidgeted awkwardly, interlocking her fingers. Lapis’ eyes followed the motion of her hands.

“I was so caught up in how much the incident was affecting me that I didn’t think about how it must have affected you as well. And in that light, your actions make sense. But yeah, you shouldn’t have followed me. I think…well. It’s probably good that we’re actually talking about this. But it’s weird, you know? I’m not used to having a human know about…us.”

Lapis shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and walked over to the bed to sit down beside Peridot. She turned to look at the shorter girl.

“All my life, I’ve always been told: stay away from the humans, stay away from the surface. Don’t let them know. And of course there were always some anomalies—sailors through the years would inevitably catch a glimpse of us, sometimes we’d interfere just a bit and rescue somebody who fell in the sea, stuff like that. But back in the day, there weren’t cameras. Nobody had any real _proof_. Now it’s different, and we have to be _so_ cautious—so I couldn’t tell you. Even if I’d wanted to, which honestly I didn’t.”

Peridot inclined her head slightly. “I get it. Well, not the whole ‘hiding from humans’ thing, but I think I can understand how difficult it would be to not have anyone to talk to about the situation you’re in, and I definitely understand why you wouldn’t want to talk to me.”

“I didn’t think you’d take it as well as this, actually. Or for you to be this understanding? I’ve spent so much time being outright _mean_ to you—how can you accept this so easily?”

“I admit it’s difficult, but really, I’m just happy to have answers. I was driving myself mad, going over theories over and over again, trying to find some sort of logical solution to what might have rescued me. And yeah, the answer is really _weird_ , but I saw it with my own two eyes. Briefly, but…yeah. It makes a lot more sense than the “real” ideas I had. And it’s…nice…to be able to talk to somebody who was there this summer, and who isn’t trying to make excuses or walk on eggshells around me.”

Lapis frowned. “When did that happen?”

Peridot shrugged. “I guess I never told you how I ended up in the water? My friend…well, former roommate, we’re not really _friends_ , decided I needed to have more fun, so she threw me in. Fully clothed. And I ran into her the other day after class…” she trailed off, noticing Lapis’ angry expression.

“She did _what?_ So the whole reason you nearly died is because your _idiot_ of a roommate decided you needed to get out more?”

Peridot chuckled softly. “It uh…sounds pretty bad when you put it like that.”

“Oh, it _sounds_ bad, does it? I hope you didn’t let her get off easy with a pithy apology!”

“…”

“Peridot! You did, didn’t you?”

Peridot twined her fingers together and stared at her hands in her lap. “I mean, she seemed pretty genuine about it…”

Lapis sighed loudly and buried her head in her hands. “Why have I ended up bonded through some bullshit mermaid magic crap to somebody who doesn’t realize when they deserve a better apology than ‘lol sorry I almost killed you this summer!’?”

Peridot smiled awkwardly. “Well, at least you can now complain openly about being bullshit-bonded to somebody like me?”

Lapis looked over at her, and, unexpectedly, burst out laughing. As Peridot looked on in mild bemusement, she managed to choke out, between undignified snorts, “Yeah, at least I’ve got that.”

* * *

 

Peridot’s next meeting with Professor Diamanté was not going well. She was trying to come up with a reason why her research wasn’t progressing as quickly as she had hoped, and was struggling greatly. Peridot’s eyes followed the tip of her professor’s pen as it tapped impatiently on the polished wood of her expensive desk.

“That’s it, then? You’ve only come up with solid evidence for species that, while intelligent, would never have the capability to drag a human being against the current onto land. Honestly, I’m disappointed, Peridot. You don’t seem to be taking this seriously. I thought this project was important to you?”

“It is, Professor! I’m dedicating a lot of time and resources to this—“

Professor Diamanté sneered. “Clearly not enough. You know, if you aren’t able to make progress on this topic, I’ll be forced to fail you.”

Peridot nearly choked as she drew in a panicked gasp of air. “No, I promise I’m onto something!”

“Empty promises do not an academic paper make. Now, if this is all, I do apologize, but clearly you’re not up to the task. I think we should cease this silly venture immediately and—“

“I have a lead! I’m talking to somebody about…hyper-intelligent reclusive marine mammals, often considered to be no more than myth!”

The older woman raised an eyebrow at the statement, and stopped tapping her pen. She leaned forward in her seat. “No more than myth, you say?”

Peridot looked up, surprised, but quickly recovered. “Yeah, I think there might be some truth behind old legends about sirens…maybe, um, a dolphin relative?” She tried to cover up her desperate slip of the tongue—she couldn’t go behind Lapis’ back and write about mermaids just to save her grades! Although, if she could make up a plausible explanation for how the merperson society could fit in with the local ecosystem…

Professor Diamanté steepled her fingers, and met Peridot’s eyes over her thin spectacles. “Alright. I’ll let you continue your research. On the condition that you pursue this…lead…you have about the mermaid myth. I’d like to hear more about that.”


	11. Look, I'm Not Calling This Chapter "Wet Dreams" Even If It Would Be A Great Pun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M NOT DEAD! So, it's been A While. Oops. I've had the most ridiculous semester and have barely had enough time to concentrate on all my academic commitments, let alone writing fanfic. But I've made it through, and I'm done with finals, and next semester is going to be significantly better. 
> 
> This chapter has been a Long Time Coming, but it's honestly not even the most important or interesting in the fic....which made it pretty difficult to write. The next few chapters are significantly more fun--and will almost definitely be uploaded in a more reasonable timeframe. Again, sorry about that. 
> 
> I'd really just like to take the time to thank all of you who've left comments and kudos, and messaged me on tumblr, and so on and so forth for being so patient with me--I know all too well what it's like to start reading a fic and then find it left incomplete for months on end. You're all the best for waiting so long, and I'd like you to know that you guys are the reason I keep writing (because I refuse to leave this fic unfinished!). Also, recently TTS hit 3000 hits, which is...incredible. Holy shit. That's so many. 
> 
> Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Happy Christmas Eve if you celebrate that, Happy Holidays otherwise, and Happy End-Of-SU-Hiatus! On with the chapter!

_This time, things were different._

_She was suddenly made aware of a struggle closer to shore, some poor land creature caught up in the current. Turning towards the source of the disturbance, she noticed it was larger than the usual lost dog or bird. In fact, this seemed to be a…human?_

_All the laws she knew of told her to avoid the shore, avoid the humans. But something deeper, something like a base instinct, was calling her. She knew that, without her help, this human would drown. The knowledge spoke to something buried at the back of her brain, and she found herself compelled to follow it, to swim closer to the rapidly-sinking figure._

_By the time she was close enough to grab the human by their….leg? Whatever they had that acted as a substitute for fins—it had stopped struggling. Somehow, she knew this was a bad sign, that the human needed air. Keeping a grasp on the bipedal creature, she swam towards the surface, and pulled the human (she was fairly certain it was a female; the fine facial features were a distinctive feature they had learned about in school) up so her head cleared the water. Still, though, the human was unresponsive._

_She shook the girl by the shoulders, and slapped her on the back. Still nothing. Desperate now (though why? Usually she didn’t care much for humans), she pulled the human back down under the waves. Following the same call that had compelled her to rescue her in the first place, she pulled the unconscious female towards her and sealed her lips over her mouth, in a kiss tinged with a tingling energy that she faintly realized was characteristic of the magical energy she had never truly experienced to its full potential._

_The human opened her eyes, green as seaweed and bright, though confused. Realizing the girl’s need for air, she once more propelled them towards the surface, this time looking for a stretch of isolated beach as the human coughed up saltwater. Spying a bit of land that would do the job, she swam towards it, careful to keep the human’s head above water, lest she inhale more again…_

Peridot gasped and sat up in her bed, her flailing limbs getting caught in her sheets and convincing her for a second that she was indeed being pulled back underwater. When she regained her sense of orientation, the impact of the dream hit her. Her cheeks heated in an angry red blush.

So Lapis had, actually, kissed her. And it wasn’t even a bad kiss! Why didn’t she remember that from her own perspective? Damn dreams!

Peridot shook her head. What was that about? She shouldn’t care whether or not she remembered Lapis kissing her, should she? They’d only just really started talking the other day, there was no reason for any of that kind of thing.

She had to admit, though…the blue-haired girl was pretty cute when she wasn’t unreasonably angry at Peridot all the time.

* * *

Peridot really didn’t want to go to her physics lab, but she knew that she couldn’t skip it. Not even because she wouldn’t get away with it, but just morally…she couldn’t let herself have an unexcused absence on her record. So at quarter to 1 in the afternoon, she tore herself away from reorganizing her “theory board” (because she had to pretend to be researching—Professor Diamanté would want evidence she wasn’t slacking off) and headed out to Stratigraphy Hall, where she would doubtlessly be subjected to Pearl’s incessant complaining about how none of the students were taking the lab seriously enough.

Surprisingly, though, when Peridot arrived, she found that she was faced with a nearly empty classroom. She checked her watch—yeah, she had the day and time right. So what was up?

From her position at the long table at the head of the class, Pearl looked up at the sound of Peridot’s footsteps. She seemed surprised.

“Oh, Peridot! I guess you didn’t know—all the other students emailed to say they weren’t able to come today, something about a field trip for a class they all have in common? Looks like you’re the only one who’s not away. I was just waiting here in case anyone turned up.”

Peridot narrowed her eyes in annoyance. “So, what, we’re not doing the lab today? I came here for nothing?”

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t think that anyone would actually show up. But I did bring some extra-credit worksheets in case there was anyone who wasn’t going on the trip—you should fill these out! Every little helps!” Pearl opened the folder that had been sitting on the table in front of her for the first time, and drew out about five sheets of paper, neatly stapled together at a perfect 45-degree angle. Peridot sighed. She knew that a “suggestion” from Pearl wasn’t really an optional exercise. She wordlessly collected the worksheets and went to sit down in the corner.

For a few minutes, she worked in silence, the only sound being the scratching of her pencil and Pearl’s idle tapping of her feet against the well-trodden carpeted floor. The physics problems weren’t particularly difficult, just tedious and time-consuming to solve. Peridot had made it through only two and a half of them when Pearl delicately cleared her throat.

“Yeah, Pearl?” Peridot met the other girl’s ice-blue eyes, removing the end of her pen from between her teeth absentmindedly (a bad habit she had for when she was working on equations).

“I was just wondering…Peridot, you live with a girl called Lapis, right?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“She’s supposed to be in the 4:30 lab on Thursdays, but I haven’t seen her in weeks. I’m concerned about her grades, really—and wanted to know if she was still here?”

Peridot was a little taken aback. Lapis, not going to classes? Did she not realize that she could get kicked out for that? Did things work differently back in her mermaid society?

And then, a thought—she’d been looking for a way to ask Lapis about her home, hadn’t she? Maybe this was the opportunity she’d been waiting for. But….

Peridot pushed aside the guilt that rose at the thought. She couldn’t afford to feel guilty about taking the chance to gather information, especially not when she _knew_ Professor Diamanté wouldn’t give her another chance if she’d made no progress on her research by their next meeting. It would be fine. She could obscure the details, make sure that nobody would realize she was getting her information from a _real mermaid_.

She twirled the pen around briefly, before replying to Pearl. “I just saw Lapis yesterday, but I can talk to her for you if you’d like? I’ll let you know what’s going on—or she can, if she’s able.”

Pearl smiled tightly, looking, as ever, like she’d never relaxed a day in her life. “Thank you, Peridot. You can take those papers home, if you want. Give them to me at our next lecture. There’s no point in staying here for the entire lab period.”

In agreement, Peridot shoved the papers into her backpack and pushed back her chair, only pausing briefly to glance back at Pearl before she walked out of the classroom, the door swinging softly closed behind her.


	12. Lapis Discovers Cat Videos And Other Wonders Of The Internet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say this chapter would be out sooner than the last one was--sometimes I keep my word about updates!
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who read/commented/left kudos on the last chapter for sticking with this fic despite my college-student tendency to disappear for long stretches of time! You're all incredible and knowing that people are still reading this is what makes me want to keep writing. You also might have noticed that I've finally posted a definitive chapter count--I've got the rest of the fic outlined extensively and we've only got about six chapters and an epilogue to go after this! 
> 
> Anyway--thank you all again, here's some fluff.

Peridot hardly knocked once on Lapis’ door before barging in, laptop in hand, to her neighbor’s room. Lapis—sat at the room’s small, uncomfortable desk—jumped out of her seat, her hand going to her heart.

“Peridot! What in the stars do you think you’re doing?”

Peridot shrugged. “I realized you don’t know much about human culture, and figured that, as Official Bullshit Mer-Bonded Friend, it was my job to educate you!”

Lapis looked skeptical. “And you’re going to do that with…that thing?”

“Look, I know you know what a laptop is for, you own one for goodness’ sake.”

“Just because I own something doesn’t mean I understand it, beyond what the people at the university help desk told me”

Peridot rolled her eyes. “You’re hopeless. Do you even know what the internet is?”

“Of course I know about the internet! It’s how we have to submit all our assignments.”

“You’re cute, Lazuli. Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of….online cat videos”

“Are cats the ones that go ‘woof’?”

“You know, I’m not sure how the hell I ever missed that you weren’t an actual human.”

Peridot hopped onto the bed, sitting with her back to the wall and her feet dangling off of the edge. Lapis, resigned, pushed in her chair and joined Peridot, shoving away her unmade duvet.

“These ‘cat videos’ had better be worth it—I’ve got an essay due next week.”

“Lapis, you have no. idea.”

* * *

 

Some time later, after Lapis had been thoroughly indoctrinated into the internet black hole that is cat videos, Peridot seemed to remember the real reason she intruded.

“Hey Lapis, can I see the laptop for a minute?”

“But Peridot….the cat….her kittens….there are so many…they’re so _small!”_

“…yeah, okay, give me that.”

She grabbed the laptop and opened up a new window, hiding the content from Lapis until she had pulled up a video player and set it to full-screen mode.

“Now, Lapis…this is the true test of whether or not you can enjoy Earth culture…the most incredible, garbage, convoluted show that we have to offer…”

Peridot hit the space bar, and a tinny jingle began to play through the computer’s much-abused speakers. Lapis squinted at the screen in confusion.

“Peridot…what’s a _Camp Pining Hearts?”_

“Trust me, it’ll drag you in.”

The two girls remained transfixed with the glowing screen, as the light from outside slowly faded away to be replaced by a shadowy gloom. Lapis swung her legs up onto the bed, and Peridot found her head slowly slipping down from where she was leaning it on the wall. She yawned, and briefly let her eyelids flutter closed. Surely she could get away with a minute, right? Just resting her eyes…

Peridot jumped back into consciousness when Lapis’ cold hand grabbed at her exposed arm.

“Aaaah!” she shouted, eloquently.

“Look, sorry, it’s just…your laptop died, and I need to know what happens next.” Lapis’ eyes were nearly luminous in the darkness. Peridot groaned.

“What time is it? What episode did you even get to?”

“It’s…1:30? The computer gave up halfway through episode 23. And you were drooling on my shoulder.” Lapis stated in a matter-of-fact way.

“Shit, I should probably go, I’ve got class tomorrow morning. This morning?”

“But when will we find out who wins the Color War?”

“Lapis….I’ll…come round tomorrow? Or maybe we can plug my laptop into the TV in the living room. Then we’ll at least have a bigger screen.”

Lapis looked disappointed, but conceded to Peridot’s request. She stretched her arms over her head, letting her back readjust with an audible _crack!_

“Okay, deal. Tomorrow we watch the finale.”

“The finale? Lapis, you _do_ know there are four more seasons of this, right?”

“There’s… _more?_ ”

* * *

 

The second Peridot walked into the common area of their suite after her 2:30 lecture, she was met by wide blue eyes and an expectant expression. Lapis had her own laptop clutched against her chest, and stood silently as Peridot sighed, dumped her backpack on the floor, and kicked off her soggy sneakers (the weather, in all its autumn unpredictability, had decided that this week was a test of just how much water could fall from the sky).

“Lapis…” Peridot began, then shook her head and pried the laptop from her friend’s grasp. She shoved Lapis in the direction of the uncomfortable college-supplied couch, and began the process of hooking up the laptop to the TV.

“You look like you want to talk about something,” Lapis observed, pointedly staring at the way that Peridot was clearly taking more time than even she could tell was necessary to plug a single cable into a single outlet. Peridot swiveled around and sat cross-legged on the ground.

“I hate that you can tell that after like….five days of us actually talking to each other? Anyone would think that it was you doing the stalking, not me.” She absentmindedly cracked her knuckles and stared at the rough blue fabric by Lapis’ arm. “Pearl asked me about you the other day…she’s the TA for Professor Quartz’s physics classes? Anyway, she said you hadn’t been coming to lectures, or labs, and she’s worried. You do know those are mandatory, right?”

Lapis frowned. “But why would she worry if I don’t show up? As long as I pass the exams and do the assignments there’s not an issue, is there? Remember, I’m not here because I actually _care_ about the education—it’s because I can’t get away from _you_.”

“Does it work differently back home for you?” Peridot asked, genuinely curious. “Because here, participation and attendance are actually part of your grade. They keep track of if you show up or not, and if you don’t, you’re gonna have to do a lot better than just “pass” the exams.” She leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees and giving Lapis a pleading look. “They could kick you out. And then you wouldn’t be _allowed_ to be here, and it’d suck for you, because you wouldn’t be near me, and it’d suck for me, because you’re actually a pretty decent friend after we got past all the secrets and stalking and weird mermaid magic bonds. So I don’t want that to happen, but you’ve gotta go to class.”

Lapis frowned, and then sighed her acquiescence. “Your human education system is so _weird_. When I went to school back home, it was our responsibility to show up to class, but we didn’t have to if we didn’t want to or already knew the material. And yeah, you got the occasional people who were too lazy to go and didn’t care and did badly because of it, but they didn’t have to be forced under threat of bad grades to sit through a lecture. What happens if you’re ill?”

“You’ve got to get a doctor’s note or something, I guess. You get two free passes to miss class without one, but otherwise you get penalized.”

“That’s dumb.”

“I mean. I agree with you there.” Peridot turned back to the computer, and finally pulled up the next episode of her favorite TV series. “Anyway, back to the _real_ reason you wanted to hang out with me. Move over—the other couch is somehow worse and I refuse to subject myself to that.”

She pressed play, and dropped into the now-vacant spot on the couch, successfully squashing the sudden impulse to curl up against the blue-haired occupant of the piece of furniture and trying hard not to think about why that was something that had come to mind.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Pirate's Plague](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15838716) by [acechick_ace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/acechick_ace/pseuds/acechick_ace)




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